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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29792871">The Girl and the Gardener</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/femme_fairy/pseuds/femme_fairy'>femme_fairy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, In the Maze (Maze Runner), Pre-The Maze Runner, The Glade (Maze Runner)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:35:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,182</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29792871</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/femme_fairy/pseuds/femme_fairy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A girl comes up in the box. The first girl in The Maze, our maze.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Chapter One: <em>The Glade </em></span>
  </strong>
</p><p>I wake up in a cold and dark room. I look around, unable to see anything. My surroundings are pitch black and reek with the smell of oil, I think. I try standing up in the shaking room. Standing up causes the small room to shake even more than it already is. As I stand up the room starts to move up. The quick jolting of the room makes me fall over. I sit on the ground unable to think straight and unable to remember anything at all. Who was I? Where was I? and what was going on? I crawl over to the corner scared that if I stand I'll just fall over again. I scooch into the corner and bring my knees up to my chest. I start to breathe heavy, unable to control my breath. I feel something on my face, something wet. I wipe it away and realize I know what it is, it's a tear. I was crying. "Of course I'm crying" I whisper to myself. I let myself continue to cry, because there was nothing else I could do. The room I'm in comes to a quick stop causing me to gasp on impact. I whisper to myself "this is it, this is the end."</p><p>I'm jolted awake by the room moving again. As my senses started to work again I realized I could hear voices from outside the room. I stand up and try to push myself further into the corner that I was already in. A stream of light comes into the room, blinding me. As more light comes in the voices get louder. I shield my eyes from the sun, it feels like I haven't seen the sun in years. Someone jumps into the room causing the whole room to shake. I let out a shriek which is followed by the people around me laughing. The boy reaches his hand out "The names Nick, nice to meet ya." I reluctantly shake his hand. Around 30 boys surrounded the moving room that me, and now the boy were in and offered me help up. I grabbed onto a couple of hands and was hoisted up. Nick was helped up behind me. "Welcome to The Glade greenie. You're new home." I heard someone from behind me say.</p><p>"The Glade..." I mumble to myself. Such an odd name. What did it even mean? People started walking up to me and introducing themselves. They all seemed fairly friendly. After what felt like hours I had been introduced to all of them. But still, nothing was making sense. "I'm sorry but where am I, and why am I here?" I asked Nick, because he seemed to be the one in charge here. I heard scattered laughs. "This is your new home. See you are one of the lucky people who gets to be stuck in a maze with these shuck-faces." He continues. Someone punches him in the arm. What even is a shuck-face? From that reaction I don't think it's a good thing. "Since the box came right on time I guess that means you get the grand tour today." Nick said while looking around. "Today Asher will be giving you the tour, and tomorrow he'll continue to help you around until you get the gist of how things work around here." He said. A tall boy steps forward. He couldn't be older than 17. He sticks out his hand waiting for me to shake it "Pleasure to meet you Greenie, the names Asher. And I will be your guide." I shake his hand and he smiles at me. His smile is infectious, it causes me to smile back. He didn't sound like Nick, he had an accent in his voice. I know I've heard that kind of accent before, I just can't quite put my finger on it. "Pleasure to meet you..... Asher." I respond.</p><p>Asher grabs my arm and starts slightly dragging me behind him. "Come with me." He said with a little too much excitement in his voice. He begins to climb a ladder that leads to the top of a tower. I look up as he climbs. The tower looks sort of like a nest, a point in which you can see the whole glade from. After he makes it to the top he ushers me to come join him. As I climb I notice how high up I'm going and my breath starts to hitch. I make it to the top where I see Asher standing on the end leaning on the railing. He turns around and smiles at me. "Come closer to the edge, you'll get a much better view over her. I guarantee it." He says while pulling me forward. I reluctantly join him and lean on the walls, the sort of walls that stop you from falling off the edge of a cliff. I look around, mesmerized. It's a shock what they've done with what they have. "It looks beautiful from up here." I say as I continue to admire the view. "Yeah, it really does. You're lucky you were sent up now. It wasn't always like this." I look at him slightly confused which causes him to laugh. "Before you, well to be honest before me as well. The Glade hasn't always thrived like this. But let's not get into that right now." He said. I'm guessing it's a sore topic. "You'll get your name and birthday within the week. It's the only thing they let us keep." He continued. Let us keep.... that makes sense. That's why I can't remember anything substantial. "It's actually getting quite late. I think I'll give you the tour tomorrow. Sound good greenie?" He asks me, though it seemed much more like a statement than a question. I just nod at him. I watch him go down the ladder and disappear.</p><p>I sit down. And break down. I don't know why I'm crying. I have no reason to cry. I remember nothing of my life before today, yet I miss it. I lay down and just let the tears continue to roll down my face. I close my eyes just to rest them. </p><p>Next thing I know I'm being shook. "Hey. Greenie. You fell asleep up here. You know how dangerous that is?" I hear Ashers familiar voice say. I sit up quickly and look around and see that it's dark out. The only light visible is a large bonfire in the center of everything. "Shit. I'm sorry. My bad." I say looking at him. I hear him laugh under his breath. "what?" I ask him, curious about why he's laughing. "Nothing. Nothing. Just that you have some mouth for such a pretty girl." I stare at him blankly. "Aren't I the ONLY girl you remember meeting." I ask him in a joking manner. "Yes, that is indeed true. Anyways. Come down for dinner." He reaches out to help me up. We both head over to the bonfire. I sit on a stump, far away from the rest of the people as Asher joins the crowd.</p><p>"Hey Greenie" I hear someone say from behind me. Another accent, one not quite like Ashers and completely different from Nicks. I turn around to see one of the guys who helped me out of the box. "Hey" I say, my voice barely above a whisper. "Why aren't you with the other people? Tonights dinner is technically in your honour" the boy asks me. In my honor? Why would it be in my honor? I've been here for less than 24 hours and all I have done is cry twice and sleep. "I see your tour guide has abandoned you" he says pointing at Asher who was currently wrestling a guy who was much bigger than him. Me and the boy start to laugh as we watch Asher lose, bad. "My name is Newt, by the way." The boy says to me still watching Asher. "Realized I aven't properly introduced myself yet." "I would properly introduce myself but I have no clue what my name is." I say with quite a bit of resentment in my voice. I know it probably wasn't Newts fault I can't even remember my own name, but it's frustrating to not even know who you are. "Yeah.. it'll come back to you in a day or two. Depends." He said now looking at the floor. "So I've been told." I say while looking at him.</p><p>I continue to observe Newt throughout the night. He seemed like a nice person. They all seem nice. I look around and see them laughing and smiling, they all seem quite content.  I get up, deciding it's time to look around a bit. I walk towards what looks like a ton of plants on small walls. I get closer and realize it's a garden. It looks so beautiful up close. I look to my right and a bit away I see animals in fenced areas. The animals consisted of sheep, pigs and cows.</p><p>I make my way back over to the party going on. As I approach it I see boys passed out on the floor, some half asleep leaning on a tree and the others just sitting and talking. I walk over to the group of boys who are still awake and ask "Are we not going to get them to bed? I don't think it would be very comfortable to stay sleeping on the floor." They all just look at me like I'm crazy while a couple of them laugh at me. "You learn to be able to sleep on any surface but be my guest and put them to bed." says a boy who I haven't been introduced to, or at least I don't remember being introduced. "Well you're quite rude, aren't you?" I say while glaring at him. I hear Newt laugh and whisper to him "Well Gally, you're already getting on Greenies bad side." I turn my glare to him and he stops. "I don't have a bad side. Now if you will excuse me I have people to help." I turn around to a pair of boys who are passed out. I lightly shake them and whisper "let's get you two to bed." They both stand up half asleep and walk to their hammocks with my help. I proceed to do this with the rest of the sleeping boys until they are all well asleep. </p><p>I walk back over to the bonfire and walk to where the food is. I hear footsteps approach me from behind. "Someone needs to put Gally in his place more often." I hear a deep voice say. I turn around to see a tall dark man, one who's been hanging around with Nick all day. I smile at him "I didn't mean to put anyone 'in their place' he was just being a bit rude." I continue to pick at the left over food and eat some of it. "I'm Alby, by the way." He says as he starts to pick at the leftover food as well. We continue to make small talk until he retires to bed. There was only three boys left sitting around the fire. Newt, Asher and a boy I remember from when I first got out of the box. I walk over to them and sit down. The fire the only source of light and heat being a god send. I sit there quietly and listen to them talk quietly.</p><p>All of a sudden I hear this awful noise. It sounded like a monster. Luckily the sound was coming from beyond the tall walls. The boys notice me flinch because of the noise. "That is a griever Greenie." said the boy I didn't know. "A what." "A griever. The reason those walls close at night. The walls keep us safe." said Asher. "You'll learn more tomorrow. But as for tonight it's late and we don't want you to not sleep." Newt says to me. The other boys murmur and agree with him. The boys one by one get up and head to bed until it's just me and Asher. He gets up and then helps me up. "Here. Let me show you where you'll sleep." He says as he walks away. I follow him to one of the shelters where the hammocks hung. He led me over to one in the very front. "This is your bed greenie. Sleep well. You've got a long da- life ahead of you." We say our goodnights and he heads to his hammock. I lay down in mine. It was surprisingly comfortable. I look up and can see the stars through the cracks in the roof. I fall asleep, just thinking and wondering what I was getting into.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two: Last First Day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Greenies first real day in the Glade and her first day of her new life.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I shoot up in my hammock and look around. As I look at my surroundings I realize it can be no earlier than 2am, and it was still dark outside. I lay my head back down and try to steady my breath. Clearly I had woken from a bad dream, but I can not for the life of me remember what it was about. As I look up at the roof I stare at the stars that I can see through the tiny holes in the roof. I'm finally breathing normally again as I hear some stirring around me. "There's no way these people get up this early considering how late some of them went to bed" I mutter to myself. The rustling continues but I chose to ignore it. I was still the newbie here, and it already seemed like some of them people didn't like me. If this really was my new life then I had to figure out the rules before I parade around like I own the place. My brain finally relaxes enough to where I can sleep again and I doze off.</p><p>The next time I wake up it's because someone is shaking me. I lightly swat at them trying to make them stop. "Hey feisty, it's time to wake up." someone says as they laugh. It takes me a second to get there but I recognize the voice. "Asher, leave me alone." I say to him, my voice barely above a whisper. I hear him laugh again as I bury my face in my hammock "You recognize who I am? I'm flattered." I uncover my face just enough so that I can glare at him. He reaches his arm out with a smile "Come on Greenie, rise and shine. Today's the start of your new life." He helps me sit up. Is help even the right word? It was more like him sitting me up. "Is there a place for me to change sir?" I ask him with the most sass I could. He pretends to gasp at me "Sir? Do I look like a 'Sir' to you Ms. Greenie?" He says to me while holding back a smile. Wow this kid is just a fucking ray of sunshine isn't he? That's going to take some getting used to.  "Yeah, that hut over there." He says as he points to a hut not too far away. "I'll make sure no dumb shucks try and sneak in." There it is, that word again. Shuck. I'll figure out what it means eventually. Although I'm pretty sure it's just their version of a cuss word. Which is weird, why can't they just cuss like normal people?</p><p>I make my way out of the hut I changed in and head towards familiar faces. As I make my way over to where everyone was I can see plenty of the boys I helped last night looking awful. I'm sure the cause of it was that drink they were downing like it was the last liquid on earth last night. A voice comes from behind me saying "Hey Greenie." "Why is everyone calling me that? It isn't my fault I can't remember my name is it?" I snap as I spin around. It was that boy from last night. He looks much nicer in the light of day. Gally, that was his name. I hope I wasn't too rude to him last night, pissing off someone on my first day was not the plan. “Feisty is a proper word to describe you isn’t it?” He said while laughing a little. Wow, one day in and I was already labeled as ‘feisty’. I can’t tell if that’s a compliment coming from a ton of teenage boys. “Hey” I say as quietly as I can. He looks at me a little concerned but decides to move on. “Everyone is called greenie or variations of that until they can remember their name. It’s tradition, don’t take it personally.” He says while patting me on the shoulder. I’m sure he meant for the gesture to be endearing but it just irritated me. I shrug him off. I don’t need anyones pity. We both head to the food and he continues his day as normal. Not bothering me at all. God, I’m a bitch aren’t I?</p><p>I’m sitting down on a stump a little bit away from the large crowd of people. Staring at nothing in particular when someone decides to interrupt my thinking, though they weren’t interrupting much anyways. “Heyyy” I hear Asher say as he comes up from behind me. I smile at him lightly. Not trying to make anyone else here hate me. “So. Today you kinda just get to float around. See how things work, and decide where you belong.” He said as he sat down on the ground in front of me. “So. Today you kinda just get to float around. See how things work, and decide where you belong.” He said as he sat down on the ground in front of me. “To be honest you won’t be doing much for a couple of days. No one trusts you yet, don’t want you to fuck anything up.” I laugh. “I think if it were up to a couple of them you wouldn’t be doing stuff for a week at least, but we don’t have that kind of time.” Of course they don’t trust me. I’ve been here for one day and all I’ve done is piss someone off and help a couple of kids get to their bed. What's to trust? If I were one of them I wouldn’t trust me. That’s the thing isn’t it? I’m not one of them, I’m me. The new person, the person who they think is going to ‘fuck things up’. We’re off to a great start already. </p><p>Asher leads me around the glade showing me people in action. “The runners already left, early this morning. Won’t be coming back till dark. I’ll introduce you then.” The runners? I still know so little about my ‘new home’. I don’t think I’ll ever feel at home here. “So what will I be doing once I start doing stuff?” I ask him. I want to know what I’ll be getting myself into. For example, I don’t think I’ll ever want to be a runner. If it means that I have to go past those walls then I have absolutely no interest in it.  “Well we have jobs you see. I’ve already mentioned runners. Then there are builders, bricknicks, cooks, med-jacks, slicers, track-hoes, gardeners, sloppers, blood housers and baggers.” There are that many jobs? I guess it makes sense considering there’s roughly 50 boys. Some of those names sound absolutely awful. What the fuck does a blood houser do? That does not sound like a job I’d like.  “What the fuck is a blood houser?” I ask in the nicest way I can. Asher chuckles a bit and shakes his head. “You’re going to need to learn how to watch that mouth of yours. Gladers aren’t big fans of dirty mouths. And regarding your question, it’s not important. Doubt you’ll be doing that.” Could that answer be any more vague? I’m living here now, how long will it take for people to start telling me anything of substance? I exhale in frustration. Apparently it was loud enough for Asher to notice. “Hey,” he said gently. “Greenie you have to learn, this place runs on a set of rules. If you don’t comply you’re out. Learn that now and you’ll be fine.” Was that a threat? Did he just threaten me. He didn’t seem like the type to threaten a fly. I nod my head, not really feeling like speaking anymore. He  starts explaining some of the jobs and leaves out a couple of them. While he's talking I tune him out and look around. When you’re not terrified and exhausted the glade is kind of beautiful. It had a gorgeous forest, livestock and garden.  It doesn’t seem like an awful place to be living. </p><p>By the time the boy was done talking we were at the ‘entrance’ of the walls. I look up at the absence of his rambling voice. As I look up I let out a small gasp. I look beyond the open space into what looks like a ton of corridors. “What the hell is that place.” He shakes his head when I say hell but I decide to ignore that. “That is the maze. Wouldn’t think about going in there if I were you.” “Wouldn’t think of it” I say as I look at him with a serious face. He nods his head accepting my answer. As we walk away I look back into the maze with fear and a bit of wonder. Luckily my fear overpowered and crushed whatever wonder was inside of me.  “How about we go and see the gardens eh?” Asher says to me, forcing himself to smile. I nod at him returning the smile. We head across the glade and towards the garden. We walk in silence. The mood a couple shades darker than it was a couple minutes before. We arrive at the garden where people are working diligently. I look at the boys, trying to recognize any of them. My eyes fall upon the last boy who I in fact do recognize. I guess I let my gaze linger longer than I thought because he looked up at me. As he looked up he waved and started making his way over to where I stood. “Shit” I chide to myself. “You okay?” Asher asks me. “Yeah. Yes.” I say while nodding aggressively. The boy finally makes it to where me and Asher were. “Hey Greenie.” he says to me as he turns to Asher. “Hey Ash” he says while nodding to him. “Whats up Newt?” Asher asks him politely. The boys start talking to each other so I let my mind wander. This was the guy from last night. He was fairly nice, his voice was different. A good kind of different. The kind of different that makes him stand out.  The boys conversion comes to an end and they both turn to me. “Clearly your head was in the clouds and you missed everything we just said.” Asher said as he lightly punched me in the arm. I nod and laugh. I have got to start paying attention. “I have decided to leave you in the very capable hands of Newt” He starts to explain. “What?” I snap, not meaning to. “We don’t like slackers here in the glade. Might as well put you to work” said the second boy. I turn to him with a confused look on my face. I thought I wasn’t trusted enough to do work yet? Or did he trust me? Okay, calm down. Let’s not go that far. I think to myself. “Don’t worry Greenie, I don’t bite” he said jokingly. I force a laugh and smile. “Well I’ll be off, have some business to attend. Bye Greenie” Asher says as he walks away. Why? Why did the only person I semi know have to abandon me?</p><p>I walk into the garden behind Newt. I stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. I hear Ashers voice in my head ‘To be honest you won’t be doing much for a couple of days. No one trusts you yet, don’t want you to fuck anything up.’ Guess there isn't much for me to fuck up in a garden supervised Guess there isn't much for me to fuck up in a garden supervised. Wait. How come Asher can say fuck but I can’t? I’m interrupted mid thought by Newts voice “Hey Greenie, be of some use and start collecting the crop?” I look up at him, just now realizing how much taller he was than me. He had to be almost six feet. I look back at the floor picking up a basket. As I start to gather the food I finally feel his eyes leave me. I fall into a rhythm and deep into thought. Losing myself in the little work that I had been assigned. I could get used to this.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The person I have casted for Asher is Louis Partridge, so that is what he looks like and he has a British accent.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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